Game Report

It’s been almost a week since the last time the Laval Rocket played a game – one that most would like to forget in a dismal performance against Syracuse.

Some roster changes took place for tonight’s tilt against the visiting Charlotte Checkers, including the season debut of Jeremiah Addison, along with the return of Charlie Lindgren from the Montreal Canadiens. Additionally, newcomers on ATO like Johnny Austin, Nikita Korostelev, and Anthony Beauregard found themselves in the lineup as well.

The first period took a lot longer than usual, due to a nearly ten-minute video review of a goal that Chris Terry (and the goal horn operator) thought was in the net. Eventually the officials determined there was no goal, but with Adam Cracknell already potting a goal off a nice centering pass from Terry earlier in the period, the Rocket were able to take a 1-0 lead into the locker room at intermission.

Despite finding themselves in the penalty box two more times in the second period, the Rocket kept the Checkers at bay and Charlie Lindgren, in his first game since being returned from Montreal, stopped every shot thrown his way.

Then Laval extended their lead to 2-0 when Jeremiah Addison rifled the puck past Alex Nedeljkovic for his first AHL goal in his first game of the season. In addition, Anthony Beauregard and Johnny Austin registered their first professional points with assists on the Addison goal.

With the Rocket getting outshot in every period of the game, and ultimately only putting up 19 shots on goal in total, it was only a matter of time before Charlotte mounted a comeback. The third period was all Checkers as they put two pucks into the net to tie the game.

Cracknell came oh-so-close to giving his team the lead again in the waning minutes of regulation, but Nedeljkovic kept the puck out of the net and the game went to overtime. The Rocket couldn’t muster a shot on goal in the extra minutes and Lucas Wallmark fired a big wrister from the top of the circle for his second goal of the night and the game winner.

The Rocket can’t be pleased with another home ice loss and another game in which they had a decent lead and gave up three unanswered goals toward the end of the game to ultimately fall short of winning. They’ll get another crack at the Checkers on Saturday afternoon.

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